Bleach Field Trip
by Twix10
Summary: An ordinary biology field trip with a romantic twist on the relationship between two of my favorite characters, especially with the interference of a few close friends.Please read and review.


**Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach or any of the characters thereof. I am merely borrowing them.**

_Whoever had suggested this was an idiot. This whole thing was stupid._

So why was he here? He glared halfheartedly at the dark-headed girl, currently chatting happily with Tatsuki, Inoue, Chizuru, Rangiku-san, Mizuro, Keigo, Renji, Sado and Ishida. This was all her fault.

"What's a field trip?" she had wanted to know.

Stupid him, he should have known better. Of course the boring and utterly big waste of time spin he had put it in would not have dissuaded her. This was Rukia he was talking about after all. So of course she had wanted to go, just to see what it was all about. And of course she had made sure to dash his hope of crying sick to be able to not go by blatantly making sure his father had known. And trust that fool to make it into something more.

"A field trip?" he had enquired and Ichigo could have sworn he heard the wheels creaking as they started to turn in his head. "You guys are old enough for that? Ah, Kaa-chan, they are growing up so fast. But have no fear, Ichigo, Daddy will make sure you are prepared the right way for this trip. I have been practicing in front the mirror for this day…Ah so nostalgic. A sneak visit to the red light district on a field trip…heh heh…didn't know he had it in him…"

The impact was slow in getting to him but when it finally did…

"What the hell are you babbling about, old man? Get your mind out of the gutter. It isn't anything like that. It's just a field trip. We're supposed to collect plant and other samples for the lab. Why the hell are you making it into something else?"

Isshin's face fell.

"Ah, my son. I have gone back into that state- I think my worst fears are going to come true…Ah Kaa-chan, I'm sorry. It is all my fault for not doing this earlier…my fault or only son is turning gay…"

A vein twitched and started to pound strongly at his temple before he reacted.

Wham!

Isshin flew off his chair, not anticipating the hit.

"Shut up. Who the hell is turning gay? Why am I arguing with you anyway? I'm going to my room."

He had gotten up and left then for his room but not before hearing his father up and at it again.

"See Kaa-chan. Something is wrong with the boy…"

He closed his ears to anything else. Nothing good was bound to follow anyhow.

And so he was here...

Annoyed by the turn of events, he scratched the back of his neck. As he did, he caught sight of the younger shinigami.

"Oi, Toushirou, I didn't expect you to be here," he said now, suddenly realizing he had not even given a thought to his presence.

A vein popped as blue eyes snapped at him coldly.

"It's Hitsuyga-taichou for you," he returned icily, "And I'm not here because I want to be here."

That was answer enough. Rangiku-san was responsible…

"Ah, Taichou."

Speak of the devil…

"Why don't you join us? Its fun," the blonde-haired beauty cooed.

"I don't think so," was the white-haired boy's reply.

"Ah Taichou is no fun. He's as boring as Kurosaki."

"I am not," he felt inclined to argue.

She ignored him and draped over the young captain.

"Ne, Taichou, when we get to the site, let's be in the same group. You and I will go and find the best samples."

Seeing as he was being ignored, he moved a little faster ahead, intent on returning the favor.

Why the hell were they here anyway? It wasn't like Renji, Rangiku-san or Toushiro was in his class. And what was up with everyone acting like it was normal for them to be here?

His eyes narrowed suspiciously. Yes, he wouldn't put it past her. Of course she had told them and of course they would have wanted to come. Wasn't this chain reaction effect also responsible for them being here too…? It was clear she must have used that thing on the teacher and the rest of the class. Poor, Doburoki-Sensei, he probably hadn't known what had hit him.

He sighed. There was no use being upset about being here. As much as he wished he was elsewhere. He was already here…

"…And so I put the corn syrup with the pickles on my hot dog. It was good too."

The ever present scowl deepened as he neared the group. Inoue seemed to have that effect on him more than not.

"Ah. Hime-chan is too cute. She actually thinks if she puts corn syrup with the pickles she'll get sweet relish."

This from Chizuru, who was currently being fended off from groping Inoue by a stalwart Tatsuki.

"That isn't an opening to try to feel her up, you perv," the spiky haired girl ground out before finally managing to shove the other girl away.

"Your tattoos are interesting," Mizuro commented then to a distracted Renji who was watching part two of the Tatsuki-Chizuru squabble.

"Uh…um…Thanks," he returned, the air whooshing out of him with the word when Rukia discreetly hissed it at him along with a near rib breaking nudge. He glared at her, eyes clearly indicating their would be retribution later. In return, she shot him a cheeky look, mouthing the words "Anything you say, fukutaichou-dono."

Now punishment would have to be doubled.

"Ichigo, so happy to see you have decided to join us," Keigo cried happily on seeing him closer. He made a move towards him and reflexively he put out a hand, holding him off.

"So mean…Ichigo is so mean," the boy wept.

Ichigo ignored the dramatic hysterics, suddenly wondering if it was too late to go back and join Toushirou in the back. At that time, a glance back confirmed that the captain and his vice-captain where nowhere to be seen. _Lucky buggers_, he thought, _they had managed to escape_. With his luck, he'd no doubt be realized missing in a beat.

He suddenly realized that a pair of eyes were on him and glanced around to see Inoue's grey eyes fixed on him. She blushed and looked away quickly.

_What was wrong with her_, he wondered. She always seemed to be blushing in his company.

"We will be collecting the samples in the areas ahead," Doburoki-Sensei's voice rang out just then, "Please remember to properly store the samples in the jars provided, with proper labels. It will avoid the confusion when we get back. I am going to assign you to groups of six, so try to stay with your group members. We will spread out through the area, covering as much ground as possible so we can get some diverse samples, so its important to be in contact with your group members at all times."

They stepped into a clearing and the teacher signaled a stop.

"This is where we will start and meet back up. Okay, now class pay attention as I will now be announcing the groups. Alright…"

When he started going off on the names, Ichigo's attention lapsed. A pair of birds just above his head had caught his attention, droning out the teacher's words. It wasn't until his brain realized the teacher was repeating something that he snapped back.

"Abarai Renji and Kuchiki Rukia? Abarai Renji and Kuchiki Rukia?...That's funny, I could have sworn I marked them present earlier," he was mumbling the latter part to himself at the same time Ichigo was realizing that those two had indeed made a get away.

"Ah, well, then the last group will be Arisawa Tatsuki, Ishida Uryuu, Yasutora Sado, Inoue Orihime, Kurosaki Ichigo and Kunieda Ryo."

He sighed, this time in relief. He hadn't been stuck with Keigo or any of the other people in class.

"Ah, Kuchiki-san and Renji-kun have disappeared," he heard Inoue saying then, "You see Tatsuki, maybe I am right and that big foot monster came and stole them."

Tatsuki smiled and patted the ginger-orange head.

"I doubt that kiddo. They probably just snuck off."

Inoue made a cute pout, re-smoothing her hair.

"Ah mou, Tatsuki-chan. Enough of the 'kiddo' already, I'm a big girl now."

To this Tatsuki gave a small laugh and ruffled the hair again.

He stood, fascinated for the moment by the look on her face. He wasn't even aware he was staring and not paying attention until, Ishida touched his shoulder.

"At least try to pay attention and look interested, Kurosaki," he commented drily, "Your look of boredom is enough to put us all to sleep."

His brows snapped together.

"Did I ever tell you you're annoying?" he quipped back.

"Not as annoying as you are, I'm sure," came the smart reply as the other boy strode off.

_Damn that Quincy, always wanting the last word_, he started to think, following after he found himself at a loss for words to reply.

It seemed they had decided to go east of everyone else. He walked, forcing himself to stay alert and at least get some good samples. Once in a while though, he would get distracted by the conversation ahead as Inoue chatted with Tatsuki and Ryo, Chad looking on quietly with Ishida.

"Eh Eh, no no," he heard Inoue laughing now, "I really tried to bring home the skunk. It was really cute and I kept thinking it was telling me something. When I tried to touch it though, I got sprayed. I stunk for a whole two weeks and even Tatsuki wouldn't visit. Nii-chan was really nice and got me lots of tomato juice to bathe in but it never helped."

That was so like her. Inoue was probably the only person he knew that would think a stinky skunk was cute or even try to take it home with her.

"Look," Tatsuki said pointing a little to the left, "There's a small cave over there. Some of us should go see what kind of samples we can get."

"I wouldn't recommend going on your own, Arisawa-san," Ishida spoke up then, pushing up his glasses, the action making them glint in the light, "It might not be safe."

Sado was eyeing the area as he spoke.

"I don't think anyone else will find one," Tatsuki argued, "And I'm not afraid. We could really get some nice samples there."

"But…" Ishida began.

He absolutely hated the thought of anyone going in there and getting injured and Tatsuki was a girl, despite here acting so tomboyish…

"I'll go with her."

"Huh?" came the unintelligent reply to the large boy's statement.

"I'll go…with Arisawa-san."

"Ah. Arigatou Sado-kun. Let's go."

Without waiting for an intelligent reply, the tomboy grabbed the hand of the gentle giant and pulled him off, bags and sample containers, to the cave.

They disappeared inside a moment later and he decided he might as well start looking to see if any thing out here was collectable. They were probably going to have a little bit of a wait.

He was studiously inspecting an area near a huge rock, when he heard Ryo's voice.

"Ishida-kun, come and look at this. I don't think I know what it is. You get high scores so maybe you do…"

Ichigo scoffed at the way Ishida suddenly reacted, suddenly looking all important and decided to ignore them. The bastard's ego would probably swell even more if he saw him noticing.

He found a strange looking bug near the shrubs at the rock as he refocused. It was not like any bug he had seen before so he picked it up and added it to his sample containers. An odd smelling vine followed and then a brown-orange looking caterpillar.

He found himself getting engrossed with little effort, truly intrigued by the things he was seeing. That was probably why he did not notice anything amiss at all until it was pointed out.

"Um…Kurosaki-san…"

"Hm," he returned.

"Ishida-kun and Ryo-chan are gone."

"What?"

He stood up, scanning the area quickly. True, those two were no where close by.

"Didn't you see where they were going?" he asked.

"I was getting samples," the girl replied holding up several filled containers.

"The hell," he mumbled, more to himself than anyone else, "They were just here."

"Do you think the monster came and got them too?" Orihime asked then.

It was weird to admit it even to himself but that idea was sounding a bit plausible right now. Too many people were conveniently disappearing- first Toushirou and Rangiku-san, then Renji and Rukia…It was getting weird. And there were no hollows…that thing hadn't gone off and he was sure it was working.

"Maybe they're ahead of us," he suggested, "The cave could have had an exit on the other side and Ishida and Ryo probably just wandered off. They'll come back here so we should just wait."

"Kurosaki-san is probably right," she replied with a bright smile. "Let's just continue collecting samples, ne Kurosaki-san?"

"Aah," he replied, his brain suddenly shutting off.

She hurried off to the other side of the small clearing, bending carefully near a tree to see if there was anything to collect. He turned back to his task, his frown deepening. What the hell was going on? She had just smiled- something she did everyday and his stupid brain had frozen. That had never happened before. Why now?

The frown deepened even more. This wasn't like him at all. He couldn't remember ever feeling like this…especially when it came to a girl. Rukia had been in his closet, in his room, for two months and he had never frozen like this. Ok…so Rukia was a bit different. She was a lot like him and that made her easy to talk to. Inoue was a conundrum- an enigma if you will and he was as puzzled as hell on how to deal with her.

In the beginning, when he had first met her, in honesty, he had felt a bit drawn to her. Later, he found himself worrying about her. She had a tendency to get hurt easily and get into accidents and he didn't know why but that had worried him. It shouldn't have since she wasn't someone he knew very well, except that she was a good friend of Tatsuki's. As time went on, a few lunches with Tatsuki, her tagging along, and he had found out a little bit more about her and realized his initial reaction to her had had a foundation- she had been the girl carrying her brother on her back that day.

The bloody scene flashed in his mind and he shook it away. About the same time, he suddenly recalled the night her brother as Acid wire had come to claim her, what she had said. He had buried that memory in his mind, in the deepest depths, unwilling to delve too deep in what had been said.

She talked a lot about him, she counted him as someone she liked. His heart made a wild, irregular thump now as it had then. He quickly ignored his reaction. She had probably said that in regards to a more general sense- as a classmate. That's what he had told himself then and he was going to stick with that.

'_For a king, you sure are stupid_.'

'Shut up,' he retorted to the inner voice of his hollow.

The presence just under the surface ebbed and withdrew. He sighed.

"Kurosaki-kun."

He nearly jumped out of his skin at the sound just over his right shoulder. She was close enough that he could feel the heat radiating off her, even though she was still appropriately far enough- or was it his stupid brain acting up again?

"Aah," he responded, shifting back a little to look up at her.

That was probably a mistake too. From that angle, his eyes fell first to her extraordinary chest. He blushed bright red, unable to mask his reaction in time, and looked away.

"Eh? Kurosaki-kun, are you alright? You look a little red."

A cool hand touched his forehead at the same time a few tendrils of ginger-orange hair slivered across his arm. She had moved slightly closer to check his temperature and now he caught a whiff of something light and definitely heavenly smelling. A sudden lump formed in his throat and he cleared it nervously.

"I'm alright," he found his voice to finally reply.

"That's good," she replied with a bright smile, the concerned frown marring her brow disappearing, "You had me worried there."

Why was it she was always so concerned or worried about him?

The question rose unbidden to his consciousness.

"Ah, I know. Maybe the heat is getting to you, Kurosaki-kun. You might get a heat stroke. You should go sit under the shade then and drink plenty of water."

He hesitated to correct her, unsure of what he should say.

"I'll continue collecting the samples. I'm almost done anyway. Look," here she shoved a container in front of his face, displaying a rather ugly looking insect he refused to even acknowledge as a bug, "It's pretty cute isn't it? I'm going to call him Banda-kun. He's kind of lonely though, so I'm gonna find him a friend."

He suddenly realized that all her containers had specimens, most with more than one.

"Inoue, why are you collecting so much? We only need one of each," he found himself saying.

Her eyes saddened a little.

"Eh…it's probably stupid and Kurosaki-kun can say so if he wants to…I won't get angry or upset…but …I thought they would be a bit lonely if it was just one of them so I got two, sometimes three…"

"Why would I think that was stupid?" he asked, looking over her head.

She glanced up quickly at him.

He pretended not to notice.

When she looked away again, his eyes returned to her.

It made sense that she would think that way. After all, she had been alone- now she had Rangiku-san and Toushirou with her, but, certainly, possibly no one understood being alone in the way she did. She had been that way since her brother died. His gaze fell to the silver clips in her hair, a testament to her loss.

"We should probably get back to the samples," he said standing.

She stood too.

He started off in the opposite direction, checking his watch as he did. The others had been gone for an hour now. What the hell where they doing? They were going to have to go back soon…not that he was worried over those fools…but they had been gone quite a while…

"Great, now Banda-kun will have a friend. You guys will get along great."

He looked over to see her talking animatedly to the container with a happy smile. Why was she so easy to please? Just the simplest things seemed to make her happy.

He turned away, suddenly feeling really uncomfortable. What the hell…This wasn't like him at all. It was probably because she was the only one here…Whatever it was, he didn't like it. He was noticing too much…

He moved forward slightly, noticing a brightly colored butterfly. He reached forward, hoping to get it. At the last moment, it moved off. He jumped after it but it was already gone. However, something new opened up. He parted the shrubs. He was now standing over a small incline downhill, the bottom covered with a colorful array of flora.

"Inoue."

The girl started at the sound of her name, almost dropping the containers she had been talking to.

"Hai, Kurosaki-kun."

"Come here a minute."

Curious, she moved towards him. She was about a foot away from him too when her clumsiness seemed to get the better of her- though she could have sworn it wasn't the slight trip that sent her careening forward. She could have sworn she felt a hand in her back helping her along.

"Kuros…" she tried to warn him.

He turned, eyes widening as he saw her coming towards him. He barely had time to grab her elbows but not enough time to stop their fall.

They rolled through the leaves and sparse underbrush, narrowly missing most of the trees. He painfully came to a stop with his back against a rather large trunk, the breath knocked out of him by the impact and by her slamming into his chest milliseconds later. His eyes watered a little.

"I'm so sorry! Are you all right?" she asked, pushing herself up to lean over him with one hand on the ground, and the other against his chest.

He winced and reached for the hand pressing on his ribs, trying to draw air into his lungs. He stopped there, however, as he looked up at her.

Her hair was tangled, a few leaves and small twigs adding to the wild look. Without thinking, he brought the other hand up to remove the closest leaf. As he tossed it aside, his eyes were drawn to her face. A worried frown was creasing her brow and drawing the corners of her lips downward.

And he noticed…really noticed…Inoue Orihime was breathtakingly beautiful. From her glossy ginger-orange mane so like his, the finely arched brows, the pert nose and…

His fingers were deterred from their way towards a twig, smoothing over the lines on her forehead as she grabbed his hand, peering concernedly into his face.

"Did you hit your head?" she asked. "This is all my fault. I'm so clumsy. I'm really sorry Kurosaki-kun…I just tripped…I wasn't paying attention…Are you alright, Kurosaki-kun?"

He wasn't really paying attention either. Again, so close to her, his brain had decided to go on pause. He fought to regain control of himself, drowning in these unknown waters he seemed to be treading in. His body refused to react to him. He'd probably been fighting the sensations of having her close for too long, his brain was refusing to cooperate in deceiving himself. All he could do was give in.

One small question began to pester him. If having her so close to him was having this effect, what would other things feel like? He didn't have much experience to base things on, but his instincts were telling him to try.

She leaned down a little closer, reaching her hand behind his head to feel for any bumps when he failed to answer her question.

He took advantage of the position, leaning up and satisfying his curiosity. He hesitantly pressed his lips to hers.

She pulled back quickly, eyes wide and unblinking.

His head fell back against the tree with a small thump.

"Ah, I'm so sorry," she began apologizing again, seeming to have forgotten what had caused her reaction in the first place.

Again he wasn't really listening though. His lips were still tingling from the contact. He wanted to feel it again. He moved his hand, drawing his touch down and across her cheek and into her hair. His mind registered that it was as silky as it looked and quite soft.

"What are..?"

He cut her off quickly, pressing his hand to the back of her head to keep her still, his mind centered on reclaiming the earlier sensation. This time when his lips touched hers, she didn't pull away instantly. She didn't react either. She seemed frozen.

He wasn't sure what to do, but again, he let his instinct guide him. He grasped her elbow, pulling her to him. It seemed to work. She relaxed just the tiniest bit. With the ease of tension, he felt another wave of sensation wash over him, as if she was releasing it to him.

He resisted the urge to grin- though he wasn't quite sure why he wanted to smile at that- and instead chose to drag the kiss on longer. Her lips were so soft and he had the urge to find out what she really tasted like.

'_Then taste her, King_."

For once, he didn't argue back. He angled his head, licking at her lips for entrance.

A minute later, it was as if a dam broke, releasing floodwaters across dry land. She melted into him, sending warmth rushing through him. He felt stronger, more powerful, more than he had in most of his battles. Like he could do anything…

And god, she tasted good. She tasted like strawberries, sweet cherries and chocolate- everything he liked.

She sighed against his lips and he felt it heat his body alarmingly. His head felt light.

It got lighter a moment later as she took the initiative, twisting to lay partially across him in a move to get more comfortable in the kiss. The shift actually deepened the kiss, helping him to better taste and explore the insides of her mouth. Her hand hesitantly went to his shoulder, her chest crushed into his chest in the nicest way. And all he could think was that he wanted more.

"You owe me buster. I told you it would work."

"Keh, whatever shortie. It only worked cuz you forcefully pushed her down the hill. What would a' happened if they'd really got hurt?"

"Fukutaichou-dono, you're just a sore loser. And Ichigo is tough. A little bump like that would hardly bruise him. I made sure she would land in him so she wouldn't get too hurt either."

"Too hurt?...woman, ya sure think about things subjectively. I gotta admit though…I never thought he'd get the balls to do it. He sure as hell surprised me. I was thinking Orihime-chan would make the first move but…"

"Shut up and pay up, Fukutaichou-dono."

His brow twitched.

"Stop calling me that," he growled, reaching for her. She sidestepped him, nearly revealing their location.

"Can't you guys do that later? I thought this was supposed to be for Kurosaki and Inoue-san."

They stopped playing around at Ishida's voice, Renji harrumphing at being chastised by the skinny youth.

"Don't you think someone should stop them?" Toushirou suddenly spoke up, abandoning his oath to not be involved, "They seem to be enjoying this way too much."

Rangiku grinned at the slightly flushed cheeks of her captain as he quickly looked to the oblivious couple and back. He was just too cute…

Rukia looked down, feeling inexplicably pleased to see her plan come to fruition. That idiot had just needed a push to realize his feelings for Inoue and she knew she was just the person to do it…and she had. And it had worked like a charm. Now, it was time to intervene though…

"Oi…what the hell are you doing to Orihime, Ichigo?"

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He hadn't bothered to hide his need for her presence as much after that day, though he was never really vocal or demonstrative. She didn't seem to mind-- both were a bit hesitant to acknowledge the change, but things had changed, ever so subtly between them. If anyone else noticed him sneaking looks at her during class, studying her and flushing ever so lightly when their eyes met, they said nothing. And if they noticed her usual cheerful greeting to him in the morning was now accompanied by a blush, they didn't mention that either.


End file.
